


Cornering a Witcher (For the Sake of Conversation)

by nitrogen_and_crisis



Series: Witcher, Bard, and Goat [4]
Category: Wiedźmin | The Witcher - All Media Types
Genre: Angst, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Angst with a Happy Ending, Eskel Has Self-Esteem Issues (The Witcher), Eskel Needs a Hug (The Witcher), Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Insecure Eskel, Kaer Morhen, Lambert Being an Asshole (The Witcher), M/M, Miscommunication, Non-Human Jaskier | Dandelion, Past Rape/Non-con, Protective Jaskier | Dandelion, Rape Aftermath, Rape Recovery, Tags May Change, Winter At Kaer Morhen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-29
Updated: 2020-09-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 03:34:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,465
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25586755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitrogen_and_crisis/pseuds/nitrogen_and_crisis
Summary: Jaskier winters at Kaer Morhen, intent on helping Eskel. It doesn't go quite to plan.(This won't make sense unless you've read the first two. Reading the third one just adds flavour.)
Relationships: Eskel/Jaskier | Dandelion
Series: Witcher, Bard, and Goat [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799704
Comments: 58
Kudos: 195





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> And we're back to the main story. This... was supposed to be out a whole week ago, but college and my amazing levels of executive function had other plans for me. Note the number of chapters on this one. Death is imminent.
> 
> Thanks to Charlie for beta reading this.

It’s painfully clear that Eskel isn’t okay. He tries to hide it from Jaskier, but he knows Eskel too well. He might as well just tattoo “I am not okay” across his forehead at this point. He flinches away from any sudden contact, talks less, and tries to please Jaskier more. He also has nightmares now.

Eskel had nightmares before on occasion, but they’re much more frequent now. It’s been a little under three weeks since what Jaskier has taken to calling “the incident” in his head, and Jaskier isn’t sure that Eskel has gotten a good night’s sleep since they left that inn. They’ve been camping ever since, and Jaskier has gotten used to waking up to Eskel’s bitten-off whimpers and desperate gasping. Sometimes Jaskier will even catch a quiet sob and it’s all he can do to not run to Eskel’s side. The first and only time that had happened, Eskel had practically folded in on himself. He didn’t talk for the whole day, other than to respond to direct questions, and he’d gone all out trying to make Jaskier more comfortable, even going so far as to insist that Jaskier rode Scorpion the whole day while he walked. The only comfort he seems to accept comes in the form of fondling or hugging the blanket Jaksier had given him.

By now, Jaskier has some idea of what’s going on, but he doesn’t know how to help or even broach the topic with Eskel. It’s a fight to get Eskel to so much as accept medical help after contracts at the moment; Jaskier can’t see waltzing up to Eskel and asking him about his mental health going well given the circumstances.

That’s how Jaskier finds himself lying awake on his bedroll, listening to Eskel’s quiet noises and trying to find a subtle way to invite himself to Kaer Morhen.

Kaer Morhen is the closest place Witchers have to a home according to what Eskel told him once, and he’s known since traveling with Geralt that the remaining wolf witchers gather there every winter. Jaskier is hoping that he can use the familiarity of Kaer Morhen to lower Eskel’s guard enough that he can hold a proper conversation with him.

There are two main problems with this plan that Jaskier’s come up with. The first one is simple: he’ll have to see Geralt again, but he’s rolled that around in his head for nights on end and if it’ll help Eskel, Jaskier thinks he can handle seeing Geralt again. He’s not happy with him persay, he certainly hasn’t forgiven him yet, and he doesn’t even know how Geralt will react to having Jaskier’s presence forced upon him again, but, at this point, Eskel outweighs all of that.

The second problem is what’s keeping him awake tonight. Jaskier has no idea how to get himself invited to Kaer Morhen. He sincerely doubts Eskel will do it at this point, and inviting himself would be both rude and too obvious. At this rate, he’ll end up following Eskel up the mountain and hoping he doesn’t ask why.

On the other side of the fire, Eskel bites off a cry and jerks violently, jolting Jaskier out of his planning. He watches Eskel turn over and away from him and falls asleep wishing he knew how to help.

The next morning, as they sit and eat breakfast, listening to the birds, Jaskier decides to bait him a little bit in a last ditch attempt to get somewhere, anywhere on this whole Kaer Morhen issue. 

He starts small, talking Eskel’s ear off about Priscilla, and then about Oxenfurt, and then—

“I suppose we’ll have to part in two days if I’ve any hope of making it to Oxenfurt for the winter this year.” It’s the first time Jaskier has mentioned leaving Eskel for the winter so bluntly.

Eskel’s head snaps up and Jaskier wonders briefly if he’s pushed too hard, even though he’s barely pushed at all. But Eskel looks genuinely panicked and Jaskier doesn’t know how to help or even exactly what caused it.

“Come to Kaer Morhen with me,” Eskel blurts, and the offer hangs in the air for a couple seconds before he seems to realize what he’s said, and desperation turns to horror, then fear. Eskel makes a small, aborted movement that might have been an effort to stand up, and Jaskier’s mind finally catches up.

“I’d love to!” Jaskier responds, perhaps a tad too loud, but one of his biggest problems has just solved itself, so he thinks it’s alright.

He beams at Eskel, who looks the closest to happy he’s been since the incident. Assuming Geralt chooses not to be difficult, this winter might actually go somewhat to plan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They arrive at Kaer Morhen. It goes as well as it can reasonably be expected to go.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Toss a Coin to Your Witcher" is the "Wonderwall" of the Witcherverse and no you can't change my mind
> 
> Amazingly, Charlie is still willing to beta read for me

The journey to Kaer Morhen is somehow worse than Jaskier ever expected. He’d known it was going to be miserably cold and probably the hardest thing he’d ever done physically, but he wasn’t quite prepared for his second opportunity in recent years to fall to his death from very high up.

He and Eskel barely speak the whole time; Jaskier is too miserable to be loud, and Eskel hasn’t been saying very much for quite a while anyways. On the bright side, Jaskier swears Eskel looks marginally happier every day that they draw closer to Kaer Morhen.

Jaksier gets his confirmation of his theory when they arrive at the gates of Kaer Morhen. As the gate starts to rise, what looks like a full pound of tension slides off of Eskel’s shoulders, and Jaskier relaxes a little too. Coming to Kaer Morhen was definitely the right move.

“You’re late. I was making bets with Geralt on whether or not you’d decided to abandon us this year,” a witcher calls from where he stands in the courtyard, arms folded and posture relaxed. Jaskier has all of two and a half seconds to process that this man is probably Lambert before the reminder that he is about to see Geralt again for the first time since the dragon debacle causes his heart to skip about five consecutive beats.

He doesn’t have time to process that much either or prepare himself, because then Geralt is joining them in the courtyard. Geralt locks eyes with him and makes what Jaskier knows to be the “we’ll talk later” expression. Jaskier offers him a rather sad half-smile in return, just to show he understands, and then he turns back to Eskel and immediately acquires emotional whiplash, because Eskel is  _ smiling _ .

It’s a very small smile, granted. It doesn’t even involve any teeth. But Lambert has thrown and arm over Eskel’s shoulder conspiratorially and appears to be telling him about something dumb Geralt’s been up to recently, and Eskel is smiling in response. Eskel’s smile widens a little bit as he catches Jaskier’s eye, and Jaskier’s heart does a flip in his chest. He hadn’t really realized just how much he'd been missing Eskel’s smiles, big and small, until he got to see a proper one again.

After that it’s a whirlwind of introducing himself to both Lambert and Vesemir, saying hi to Ciri, making more awkward eye contact with Geralt (who looks just a shade more murderous after interacting with Eskel and likely blaming Jaskier for how subdued he seems), and doing his best to unpack everything and get it into his room, which is right across the hall from Eskel’s. Jaskier’s just managed to fit his last doublet in the closet and has started on some of his assorted travel items when he hears a soft knock at his door. Jaskier grins, practically giddy. He knows that knock.

“Come in Eskel!” he calls towards the door.

Eskel enters the room a tad nervously just as Jaskier finishes setting out his songwriting journal and a quill. He’s not wearing his armor, something that so rarely happens during the normal year, but here in Kaer Morhen he can afford to be a little unguarded, Jaskier supposes.

“I figured someone should probably show you around so you don’t get lost.” Eskel is keeping his voice soft and he’s scratching at his scars again, which probably has something to do with the snide comments and terrified whispers Jaskier has heard thrown Eskel’s way, but he’s  _ here _ , reaching out to Jaskier in a way he hasn’t done since the incident.

“My dear Eskel, are you offering to give me a tour of the castle? Then I accept!” Jaskier never can resist adding a touch of the dramatic to just about everything he does. In another time, Jaskier might have thrown himself at Eskel, but, well, you know.

They spend the next hour roaming the castle as Eskel shows Jaskier all the places he’ll need to be able to find or should know. It’s mostly things like the library, the kitchen, where everyone’s rooms are, and stuff like that. It’s nice, listening to Eskel talk at length about something he loves again.

He definitely saves the best for last though, because when Eskel says there’s only one place left to visit Jaskier is picturing and armory or maybe some sort of secret witcher room, but—

“Holy Melitele, is that a hot spring? You’ve been holding out on me, Eskel! We are so spending time in here tonight.” Jaskier is well aware that the expression on his face is more child-like wonder than it probably should be in order to maintain his dignity, but he doesn’t exactly get to see or bathe in hot springs often. He’s going to spend so much time in here this winter. Best of all, Eskel’s small, hopeful smile has made a reappearance, and for about the thousandth time Jaskier thinks about how much he loves his witcher.

After dinner, once Ciri has been put to bed and Vesemir has wandered off to god-knows-where, Eskel, Lambert, Geralt, and Jaskier lounge around the kitchen table and drink. Well, Jaskier lounges, everyone else sits properly.

“So,” Lambert starts, glancing between Jaskier and Eskel, “Why’d ya bring the bard? Needed something to fuck for the winter?” he antagonizes.

Eskel snaps upright, face paling a little, but either Lambert is drunk enough not to realize that this is a bad sign or he just feels like being an asshole tonight, because he laughs at Eskel’s reaction.

“What, too shy to admit you’re getting it up the ass instead?” Lambert snorts.

Jaskier watches Eskel’s eyes flick over to him and then widden in slight panic. Eskel shoves himself away from the table, nearly tripping over a stool in his haste to leave the room.

For his part, Jaskier is feeling murderous, and he knows it’s crept onto his face. He’s aware Lambert doesn’t know what happened to Eskel, but how fucking dare he nonetheless. He could see Eskel was uncomfortable, but he just  _ had _ to keep pushing. If Lambert wasn’t a fucking witcher…

Next to him, Lambert is fidgeting nervously while across from him Geralt rapid cycles between staring at the door Eskel had stumbled out of and glaring daggers at Lambert.

“What’s crawled up— What’s up with him?” Lambert finally asks into the room’s silence, and it takes all of Jaskier’s willpower not to scream in his face. He wishes he could leave it to Eskel to tell his brothers, but he needs them to tread lighter and be nicer and he needed it yesterday.

“He took a contract for some nekkers in a town we visited. Rather than pay him, the mayor drugged him and he and five other men, took advantage of him, shall we say. He hasn’t recovered yet. Emotionally, that is,” Jaskier manages through gritted teeth and without punching Lambert. There, that should be specific enough that they know what they need to to not hurt Eskel further while leaving it vague enough that Eskel can decide if they get any more details than that.

Lambert pales, gaping at Jaskier. He doesn’t get a chance to say anything or voice his thoughts however, because Geralt launches himself across the table straight at Lambert. They roll on the floor, cursing at each other and knocking into furniture. Jaskier takes this as a sign that he should go find and try to comfort Eskel.

Finding Eskel proves to be significantly harder than Jaskier thought. He isn’t in his room, nor any of the places that he showed Jaskier today. Jaskier does a little bit of exploring, but for the most part all he finds are ruined classrooms and damaged sections of wall. About two hours and thirty or so calls for Eskel later, Jaskier has to admit defeat. He falls asleep only part way onto his bed, extremely worried and still wearing most of his clothes.

Needless to say, they don’t make it to the hot spring that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You didn't think this was going to be a smooth ride to the top did you?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A lot of conversations tangential to the conversation that actually needs to be had take place

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got this out way faster than I thought I would. Is it shit? Who knows?
> 
> So you know how I joked about how it was amazing I still had a beta reader last chapter? Guess what this chapter isn't! That's right, it isn't beta read!  
> Seriously though, please let me know if you find any mistakes
> 
> Oh and Eskel's terrible mental state is back, but only briefly

The next morning, Jaskier wakes up with a crick in his neck and a pit in his stomach. A quick peek out the window reveals that dawn is still a little ways off, but there’s no way Jaskier is falling back to sleep at this point. Slowly, he half-asses his way through his morning routine, forgoing quite a lot of his usual flair in favour of dressing plainly. He’s not really in the mood to dazzle anyone today, and besides, he has the feeling he’ll end up being put to work today. No point in spoiling a perfectly good outfit.

On his way down to breakfast, Jaskier glances across the hall at Eskel’s door. It’s closed, but that doesn’t say very much about occupancy when leaving doors open means losing all the hot air. For a second, he’s tempted to knock, but thinks better of it. If Eskel is in there, he needs his sleep, and if he isn’t then Jaskier doesn’t want to know quite yet. He lingers in the hallway for a while longer than he needs to anyways.

He’s the first one down to breakfast other than Vesemir, who is part way through making a terrifying amount of porridge. Jaskier settles awkwardly at the table, unsure of what else to do, and the silence sets in.

“Need any help with that?”

No answer. The silence stretches on.

“Lambert told me about what happened last night.”

Jaskier’s head snaps up in alarm.

“Did he now?” Jaskier bites off the rest of his rant before it can begin. He doubts Vesemir wants to hear him insult Lambert in increasingly creative ways for half an hour.

“Lambert can be… difficult. He’ll apologize to Eskel in his own time.”

Jaskier has to resist the urge to snort at that. “Difficult” as a way to describe Lambert might be the understatement of the century, and Jaskier hasn’t even known him for a full day.

“You’re good for Eskel,” Vesemir adds after a beat. “It could have been a lot worse for him.”

“I— Thank you,” Jaskier manages around the lump that’s suddenly decided to take up residence in his throat. He is given a bowl of porridge and a clap on the shoulder from Vesemir as he heads off to do mysterious witcher things, taking some porridge with him.

The rest of the witchers filter in slowly over the course of an hour. Geralt is the first to arrive, Ciri in tow. His expression flickers briefly into something Jaskier recognizes as Geralt’s version of surprise, probably at Jaskier being up earlier than him, but luckily Jaskier doesn’t actually have to talk to him too much because he’s too busy taking care of Ciri. Jaskier does chat with Ciri, who’s overjoyed to see him again. He winces internally at that. He hadn’t really told Geralt that he’d been going back to Cintra to check on Ciri. Cat’s out of the bag now though.

Before that conversation can truly take place, Lambert shuffles in. Jaskier is satisfied to see he’s still got a lingering split lip and black eye from his brawl with Geralt. When he notices Jaskier watching him, Lambert straightens up and squares his shoulders.

“I’m going to apologize to him today, okay? I wasn’t trying to hurt him, just mess with him a little.”

And with that Lambert slips back into his slouch and turns to grab some porridge, leaving Jaskier feeling a little wrongfooted.

The last person to show up is Eskel, who turns up just as everyone else has finished. He grabs a bowl of porridge and leaves with it as fast as he came. He stares at his feet the whole time and flinches away when Ciri gets too close by accident.

Then the four of them are left eying the door Eskel came through and each other in an uncomfortable silence, broken only by as whispered “fuck” from Lambert.

Jaskier is right about being put to work though. He ends up mucking out the horse stalls while Vesemir runs Lambert, Geralt, and Ciri through drills in the courtyard. From where he is, Jaskier can hear Lambert cussing up a storm and Ciri complaining about being treated like a child. It’s nice, in a way, even if Lambert has just called Geralt the world’s most uptight asshat because he wouldn’t let Lambert teach Ciri knife throwing. They feel like a family. It’s enough to pull Jaskier out of his worry for a little bit as he shovels away a ridiculously large horse shit.

Eskel doesn’t show up all morning.

Sometime after lunch, Eskel finds himself sitting on the floor of one of Kaer Morhen’s ruined towers, clutching the blanket Jaskier gave him. He knows he’s being stupid, but he can’t help it. There’s no point in delaying the inevitable, he should just go down and face his brothers’ disgusted stares and Jaskier’s anger, but he just can’t bring himself to do it. He doesn’t want to be told how weak he is, how pathetic it is that he can’t even handle one object. He doesn’t want to hear Jaskier’s reaction to Lambert’s comment. He looked so mad, and Eskel doesn’t know if it was about the implication that Eskel only brought him to Kaer Morhen to sleep with him or the idea that he’d ever sleep with someone so ruined. As he said, he’s being stupid.

Then Lambert is hauling himself over the ledge and into the tower with him, although he makes a startled noise when he sees Eskel and ends up landing on his ass rather than on his feet.

“Hey Eskel… Sorry, didn’t realize you were up here,” Lambert says awkwardly. Eskel opens his mouth to apologize, but Lambert plows on before he can get the words out.

“Look, I’m— sorry about last night. Jaskier told us what happened — Only vaguely. He didn’t go into detail or anything — after you left. I was just being a dick, I didn’t mean to—” Lambert gestures vaguely with his hands, “So, I’m sorry about that.”

When Eskel doesn’t respond, Lambert turns to head back down.

“Oh, and uh, I think your bard would like it if you joined it for dinner.” And then, as though it physically pained him to admit it, “The rest of us would too.”

And then he’s gone, and Eskel is alone with his thoughts again on the top of a cold tower, being stupid.

Geralt and Jaskier meet in one of Kaer Morhen’s many, many abandoned side rooms after lunch on an unspoken agreement. Geralt sits on an upturned box, Jaskier leans against a wall, and they stare at each other for a while, each daring the other to break the silence. Jaskier speaks first, because he’s never been good at long silences.

“So, how’s your ‘blessing’ been?” It’s a little underhanded of him, but Jaskier is still just a little tiny bit pissed with Geralt.

“Sorry about the mountain. I was… too harsh.”

Jaskier laughs humorlessly at that. He can’t help it. He knows Geralt isn’t good with words, and he can see the lingering shadows of guilt in Geralt’s eyes, but “too harsh?” Really? He ground Jaskier’s heart under his heel — took twenty two years of friendship and turned it to dust — and he goes with “too harsh?”

“I’m glad you found Eskel at least,” Geralt grinds out. “I think you’ve helped him.”

“You’re the second person to tell me that today,” Jaskier says ruefully. “It sure doesn’t feel like I’m helping. I try, but he won’t even stay long enough for a conversation, let alone a bloody heart-to-heart. You witchers are too damn stubborn, you know. I just wish that—”

“Lambert and I might be able to help with the conversation thing. I’ll talk to him later,” Geralt interjects suddenly, catching Jaskier off-guard for no good reason. Of course Geralt would help, he loves Eskel like a brother, but Jaskier didn’t think that Geralt would help  _ him _ .

“Tha—” his voice cracks embarrassingly. “Thanks Geralt.”

Geralt offers him a nod and excuses himself to go help Lambert with the repairs he’s supposed to be doing, leaving Jaskier in an abandoned room, trying to plan what he’ll say to Eskel if Geralt can actually pull this off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Lambert and Geralt are the worst people to have to write apologies for and Vesemir is just hard to write


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Geralt cannot be trusted to help start conversations.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, umm... oops.
> 
> I didn't mean to be gone for this long, but a whole bunch of shit happened, most of which can be summed up as: my mental health fucked off, I started college, and this chapter was a bitch to write anyways.
> 
> Unbetaed, please tell me if you find any errors.

Dinner that night is a mess. Lambert and Geralt appear to be trying to have an argument in glares, bitten-off sentences that don’t go anywhere, and the occasional insult. If he weren’t so worried about Eskel, Lambert and Geralt’s evening antics might have been amusing to Jaskier, but as it is he’s left to pick at his stew and stress — the quietest at the table for once.

Ciri and Vesemir are the only ones managing anything like a normal conversation, although they are talking about the details of one of Vesemir’s more gruesome hunts from when he was a more active witcher. Eskel is still missing.

He’s missing, that is, until dinner is nearly over. Vesemir and Ciri have already disappeared somewhere — likely for more training or just a less depression-filled atmosphere — when Eskel joins them in the kitchen. He’s curled in on himself, doing everything he can to make sure he takes up as little space as possible, but he stays, huddling on one end of one of the benches, as far away from the rest of them as he can get.

Eskel avoids looking at anyone’s faces, instead opting to stare into the depths of the stew he’s currently picking at. If anyone doesn’t want him here, they aren’t vocal about it, and he actually manages to get a few mouthfuls of the stew down (something he hadn’t been able to do at all today). No one talks while Lambert and Geralt round off their own helpings of the stew and move to leave the dining hall. Then it’s just him and Jaskier, who probably hates him by now, if not for everything that happened in that town or Lambert’s remarks then for running off last night and hiding all day instead of facing him. For a moment it’s quiet.

The sound of the kitchen doors being bolted from the outside cuts through the silence, causing Jaskier to startle slightly at the noise, but Eskel goes rigid, accidentally knocking the rest of this dinner onto the floor in the process.

Jaskier can guess that this is Geralt’s version of the “helping with the conversation thing.” He doesn’t know why he thought Geralt would come up with a practical solution that would be conducive to starting conversation. Once he gets out of here, Geralt is going to get a piece of Jaskier’s mind, properly this time. Until then he just has to have a very difficult conversation with a very stressed out witcher. No big deal.

“Eskel?” He starts, trying to not let his stress show, but some of it must bleed into his voice because Eskel flinches hard enough that he falls off the bench.

“I’m sorry!” Eskel chokes out, eyes wide as he cowers against the wall.

“Eskel—” Jaskier tries to reassure him, but for once Eskel seems intent on talking.

“I, I should have been stronger. I shouldn’t have forced you to come to Kaer Morhen with me. I should have been better, hidden it better, shouldn’t have run off. I didn’t mean to be a burden, I swear. Please, I’ll be better! I promise! Please don’t leave me—”

Eskel’s mouth snaps shut and a look of horror passes over his face while Jaskier’s heart twists painfully in his chest. He knew it was bad, but this is the first time he’s seen anywhere near the full extent of the damage.

Jaskier moves to kneel next to Eskel, but Eskel flinches away like he expects to be struck.

“Hey, I’m not going anywhere. Bard’s honor.”

Slowly, Jaskier reaches out, takes Eskel’s hand. For once, he has no idea what words to use. Jaskier doesn’t know what to say to reassure Eskel, to convince him that he isn’t a burden or a problem or whatever else.

“I came to Kaer Morhen because I wanted to. You didn’t force me to do anything. And you don’t need to hide anything from me, okay? Nothing that happened was your fault. None of it. And anyone who tells you otherwise can go and—” Jaskier cuts himself off abruptly to prevent himself from detailing exactly what people like that could go and do. He’s supposed to be comforting Eskel, not preparing to commit murder.

“You witchers always think you have to be so strong all the time, but you don’t. It’s okay to let yourself rely on other people.”

Jaskier turns to face Eskel fully, uses his free hand to lift Eskel’s head so that he can look him in the eyes.

“You are not a burden Eskel,” Jaskier states with all the conviction he has in his body. “You are not a burden and it wasn’t your fault.”

For a second Jaskier worries he said the wrong thing, because Eskel looks horribly fragile, as though one wrong move could break him completely.

“Come on,” Jaskier says, voice soft again as he tugs Eskel up and towards the door. “Geralt and Lambert have probably unlocked the doors by now.”

Jaskier is right, the doors have been unlocked, and he leads them both to Eskel’s room. Eskel doesn’t say anything the whole time, just quietly follows after him.

When they get to the room, Jaskier directs him into bed, pausing only to help Eskel with his boots while Eskel wraps himself around his blanket. (Jaskier assumes he left up there when he came down for dinner.)

After a moment’s hesitation, Jaskier slides into bed next to him, carefully pulling Eskel to his chest. Jaskier runs a hand up and down Eskel’s spine in what he hopes is a soothing motion, whispering reassurances into Eskel’s hair until he falls asleep. Then and only then does Jaskier allow himself to drift off, already planning new ways to try and help Eskel through this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried

**Author's Note:**

> I'm unbelievably tempted to tag for "Jaskier | Dandelion has Body Hair," even though it's not really a relevant tag.


End file.
